Department of Justice Employee and Eight Others
Indicted in Large Drug Conspiracy

PENSACOLA, Fla. – Nine members of an alleged cocaine and oxycodone trafficking conspiracy have been arrested this morning on a federal indictment in South Florida. The indictment was announced by Mark R. Trouville, Special Agent in Charge, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA), Miami Field Division, and Pamela C. Marsh, U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Florida.

The federal indictment alleges that Andre Barbary, 36, Scott Barnes, 40, Kim Carswell, 34, Willie
Hartfield, 54, Nathaniel Holt, 55, Tamika Jasper-Barbary, 36, Robert Lespinasse, 34, Monica Lewis,31, all from the Fort Lauderdale and Miami areas, and Robert Jackson, 24, of the Fort Myers area, were involved in a conspiracy to distribute large amounts cocaine and oxycodone. The indictment further charges the named conspirators with conspiring to use telephone facilities to carry out the drug trafficking offense. Jasper-Barbary, a legal assistant in the Grand Jury Suite of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida (Miami Division), was also charged with obstructing justice during a federal grand jury proceeding.

Because the allegations involve a member of the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Miami, the U.S. Department of Justice recused the Southern District of Florida, at that office’s request, from investigating and prosecuting the case.

The defendants face up to life in prison on Count One of the Indictment, up to four years in prison on count two, and up to 20 years in prison on Count Three.

An indictment is merely an allegation by a grand jury that a defendant has committed a violation of federal criminal law. All defendants are presumed innocent and entitled to a fair trial, during which it will be the Government’s burden to prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.